Vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, are provided with batteries to supply electricity to motors for operating the vehicles. Generally, batteries are relatively large and heavy. Depending on the structure for mounting a battery in a vehicle, space utilization of vehicles, and convenience and safety of vehicle users, and so on can vary.
To date, two types of battery mounting structures have been developed: vertical type and horizontal type. In a vertical type battery mounting structure, a battery and an inverter are manufactured as an integrated package and the package is mounted to the rear surface of a rear seat of a vehicle in the direction parallel with the rear seat.
In the vertical structure, a relatively large space is obtained behind the rear seat, and the space can be used as a trunk space, thereby facilitating the process of placing or removing a spare tire into or from the trunk. Furthermore, the amount of space required to absorb impact caused in the event of a rear-end collision is increased, which enhances the safety of vehicle users.
On the other hand, in a horizontal type batter mounting structure, an integrated package comprising a battery and an inverter is horizontally oriented on the floor in the rear of a vehicle. Compared with the vertical structure, this horizontal structure is relatively easy to mount the integrated package in the vehicle. Additional advantage of this structure is that relatively long articles such as skis can be easily loaded into the vehicle after the rear seat has been folded down. However, due to the horizontal orientation of the battery mounting structure, the trunk space becomes smaller and the amount of space that can be deformed to absorb impact in the event of a rear-end collision may be insufficient. Also, it is inconvenient to place or remove a spare tire into or from the trunk.
There is thus a need for an improved battery mounting structure that can easily mount a battery package in the vehicle, ensure sufficient trunk space to absorb impact in the event of a rear-end collision and to store a spare tire, and can load relatively long articles, such as skis, into the vehicle after a rear seat is folded down.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.